The Evil That People Do
by HandAssassinSpider-man
Summary: Loss was an old friend to Peter, its been with him as long as he could remember. It was there when his parents had died, when Ben died because he was selfish, when May died because he wasn't strong enough, fast enough to stop the likes of Otto and Li in time. In the months after the defeat of Otto and the Six, Peter believed that his days of losing were over. Then came a Black Cat.
1. Chapter 1

So I'll be real here, this is going to be a short story, it won't be as long as some of the others stories that I have going here. There's next to zero romance in this, at least in present tense but we will see a few flashbacks that'll hit you right in the feels and make this roller coaster of a story even more heart wrenching and dark and tragic and stuff because I need a Logan esque story filled with angst and heartbreak to go with my portfolio dammit!

This picks up shortly after Felicia Hardy's betrayal and before her supposed death at the end of 'The Heist, the first episode/story in the City Never Sleeps DLC of Spider-man PS4. Basically I'm going to be taking Peter down a very dark route here as the last chance at possible happiness after all he's endured and lost is quite literally blown up in front of him by Hammerhead.

It won't be instant but rather slowly build until Peter comes face to face with the Maggia crime boss and after that… all bets are off.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

In the nine years that Peter's been Spider-man he's had his fair share of wins and losses. He wished he could say the wins out numbered the losses, and to most it was true... but what the losses he did get lacked in quantity they more than made up for it in quality.

Recently Hammerhead, one of the Dons of the Maggia Crime Family made a power move against the other Dons by having Felicia Hardy aka the Black Cat steal several flash drives that held the information to the Maggia's wealth. And he was close to accomplishing his goal, very close... until Felicia thought the wealth belonged to her more than it did Hammerhead. She made a compelling case he supposed, she did work for it unlike her deranged employer.

And Felicia wouldn't have been able to pull it off if it wasn't for Peter himself.

After seeing her again after so long, after everything that's happened the past year with Li, the Devil's Breath, Otto... May.

Sure he had Miles and hos mother, and Mary Jane and even Yuri but after all that happened with Otto and Li, all the pain they inflicted on him, Peter wasn't sure if he could ever fully trust someone again, not like he used to.

Then along came the Black Cat again after so long without hearing from her for so long that he feared she may have been one of he thousands the Devil's Breath took before the antiserum was dispersed. It felt like the universe was finally ready to give him a break after so much, a genuine win and he was ready to grab it with both hands and never let it go, like a life line in a sea of pain, loss and solitude. And just to add icing on the cake she told him that she had a son, a son that could very well be his if the math he did added up right and he knew it did. And her child, possibly their child, was being held by Hammerhead to force Felica's cooperation into helping him take control of the Maggia...

Long story short, there wasn't a child.

No big daring rescue to save what Peter believed was to be his son at the end of this crazy adventure, no big tearful meeting with someone that looked like him and Felicia, no happily ever after or as close as to one people like them could get in this life. No, it was all just an elaborate ploy by Felicia to help her acquire all five of the flash drives, the entirety of the Maggia family's wealth. A wealth that numbered in the hundreds of millions if not billions. To say that Peter was crushed would be an understatement. The possibility of having a child, a son with someone he loved, well it made all the pain he's endured up to that point seem like it may have been worth it only for reality to come and slap him in the face and tell him it wasn't true...

It killed something inside of him honestly.

As Peter stood there in the vault, his head against the door and his eyes closed, he struggled to keep himself calm. To fight down the tears that wanted to escape as the pain in his chest seemed to intensify with every breath he took as the reality of Felicia's lie bared down on him like a monster from the dark. When he finally believed that he could speak and opened his mouth to ask Felicia a question that he's long sense dreaded to hear the answer to, it came out in only a low pain filled whisper.

_"Was any of it ever real Felicia?" _

Peter wasn't sure if the woman could even hear him through the several inch thick steel door and part of him hoped she didn't.

"Was what real Spider?" he heard from the other side, her voice filled with both amusement and a hint of curiosity lace in between the words that rolled of her silver tongue.

"This..." Peter was able to get out before he chocked on his own words "Us... was it ever real, or were you just planning this from the moment we first met? Slowly maneuvering me to here like some damn chess piece"

His question was met with silence.

Peter honestly thought she left with how quiet it got, how heavy the air grew and how dark everything seemed as he stood there, still as a statue. Finally he heard the faint shuffling of Felicia's feet on the other side of the door and what sounded like her placing her hand on the metal, her claws almost silently scrapping against the door.

"Some of it was real... not all... but some"

It wasn't quit the answer Peter was expecting... but it wasn't the one he hoped for.

"Felicia... you can still do the right thing" Peter said in a pleading tone. He hated how desperate he sounded, how pathetic it made him seem "Please, just take the drives to the Police and I'll... I'll help you with your next big score, whatever it is. Please... you can do so much good for the world. Don't throw it all away for a bunch of money... please"

Like he did, he threw all of his Uncle's teachings and ideals out the window for some extra cash, because he felt like the world owed him... and the world decided to take one more thing from him to prove that it never will owe him a damn thing. He refused to let Felicia go through that like he did, refused to let the universe use her as some punching bag because it was getting tired of using him.

"I'm sorry Spider... but no score can top something quite like this" Felicia said with a sigh in her voice as it dropped in volume to a whisper he could barely hear, even with his enhanced hearing "_And the ones that can... they aren't worth you dirtying yourself even more over"_

Peter had no reply to that and even if he did, the muffled yells from outside would have cut him off. It sounded like more of Hammerhead's men had shown up.

"Guess that's my cue to go Spider, I'll raise a glass to you on the Riviera" Felicia said before the sounds of her footsteps heading away from the vault door reached Peter's ears.

"Felicia? FELICIA STOP!" Peter shouted as he slammed his fist into the vault door, causing it to shake a little.

She didn't respond.

"No, no, no, no, no! Come on, come on fucking move you fucking waste of metal!" Peter said as he slammed himself against the vault door again and again causing it to shake as he could hear several of Hammerhead's men just outside the vault.

"Hey, I think someone's in there still" one of them muttered.

"Sounds like the bug" the other said with a snort "Don't worry about him, he ain't going anywhere. Just call the others and let them know we got him cornered"

"It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel" one of them snickered.

"Or a Spider in a vault" another agreed with a laugh.

"Shit" Peter hissed before he punched the door with a growl, pouring all of his frustration into the blow at the situation he found himself in, trapped and alone without any way of getting out.

The vault shuddered from the force of Peter's blow and sent a stab of white hit pain up Peters hand and into his wrist and arm. The wall crawler pulled his hand back to see the white padding on his knuckles had split and blood was leaking out. For whatever reason this seemed to trigger him and he suddenly slammed his fist into the door again, this time even harder than before.

**KOOOOM!**

Peter gritted his teeth as he pulled his fist back and slammed it into the metal again, the force of the impact denting and crushing the steel but also splitting open his knuckles and sending pain up his hand and into his arm. But he didn't care, he just pulled his hand back and slammed it into the same spot again before he reared his other fist back and slammed it into the same spot with just as much force.

**KOOOOM!**

**KOOOOM!**

**KOOOOM!**

With each hit, the steel door shuddered and bent as the metal broke and cracked under Peter's blows. Blood splattered across it's surface and on to the floor as Peter slammed his broken fists into the vault door again and again, rage, desperation, fear and god knows how many other emotions fueling him. Peter could hear men on the other side, shouting and cursing in fear as they watched and heard Spider-man quite literally punch his way out of a vault. With a final yell Peter slammed his fist into the door and sent it flying off it's hinges and thought the wall and into the yard outside.

One of the Maggia who was standing there felt his eyes widen as he saw Spider-man standing there, breathing heavily, his fists bleeding on to the ground and his lenses narrowed to slits. He shared a brief look with his companion who seemed just as startled before they both heard a 'twip' followed by a web line hitting them both in the chest. Both men looked down and then at Spider-man just before he yanked them both towards him and sent his bloodied bruised and possibly broken fists into their stomachs.

Peter heard one man gasp in pain as the literal wind was knocked out of him and collapsed to the floor clutching his core with a pained expression while the other emptied his stomach's contents on to the floor before falling face first into it. He didn't give them much mind as he walked past them and towards the door and prepared to shoot a line out and swing after Felicia before he heard a phone ring from one of the men. He paused halfway out the door and turned to see that a smart phone had fallen out of the man who threw up's pocket. Peter shot a web line and snagged it off the floor and yanked it to him and caught it in one practiced motion.

_'Caller I.D... the boss_' Peter read on the screen as he swiped right and held the phone up to his ear and was greeted to the sound of Hammerhead's voice, laced with anger and annoyance.

_"Well, did that bitch get her hands on the drive or did you stop her?"_ the Maggia crime lord asked "_Hello, can you hear me? I said did she get her hands on the drive? Hello?" _

Peter didn't respond, he simply held the phone and listened to Hammerhead's breathing and muttered curses before the sound of typing could be heard in the back ground. Peter heard the faint whining of an old camera moving and looked up towards a darkened corner to see it turn and look right at him just as he heard Hammerhead sigh.

_"You know web head, your little slut is proving to be a bigger pain in my ass than a the other Dons ever were"_ Hammerhead said before he chuckled _"Something I'm sure you've already figured out yourself right? I mean, you don't look to happy from where I'm standing"_

Peter's grip on the phone tightened a little, not enough to crush the device, but enough to crack the screen a little as he glared up at the camera with a dark look under his mask.

_"You know, there was a time that the Maggia were the most feared Family in America. No one, and I mean no one would dare look at us wrong, not unless they got tired of living_" Hammerhead explained with a sort of longing in his tone_ "Politicians, cops, hell even a few government agencies were in our pocket. Guys like Fisk, they wouldn't even have gotten a fraction as far as he did in our hay day... then people had to go and stop being afraid. Then to make matters worse, the Maggia got soft" _

Peter could hear more men coming but he didn't move, his gaze focused on the camera as Hammerhead continued to talk, his voice growing steadily angrier and louder as he went.

_"Then you guys popped up on the scene, in your bright colored outfits and crazy ass powers and suddenly it's all about having super powers or world domination. The good old days were done because of your kind web head!"_ Hammerhead growled before he snorted _"But that's all gonna change soon enough. And hey, about the flash drives, don't worry about them or your little bed warmer anymore. See I left a nice surprise at her penthouse waiting for her that'll send her sky high-" _

Peter didn't hear what the man had to say as he crushed the phone and rushed out of the room and took to the air again with a strand of web. He quickly had his suit call Felicia's number and hoped to god that she picked up as he reached through the air, swinging as fast as he realistically could. Sometimes Peter wished he had something like Ironman's suit or even the power of flight itself, anything to get him moving faster than his web shooters.

_"Miss me already Spider?"_ Felicia answered in a teasing tone.

"Felicia, Hammerhead knows where your at, he's coming for you" Peter said in an urgent tone as he raced over the rooftops. H didn't know how Hammerhead knew where Felicia was, all that mattered to Peter was that he stopped her from being another life that the crazed Mob boss took.

He could hear Felicia sigh over the line_ "I don't get you Spider, I just literally screwed you over and yet here you are, still trying to 'save me'. How the hell can you be so damn nice all the time?" _

"Felicia please, Hammerhead's gonna kill you!" Peter pleaded as images of May's final moments flashed through his mind and the feelings that were associated with them.

Weak, helpless... he was too late to save May, he'd be damned if he lost Felicia too.

_"Yeah, well he can get in line_" Felicia said with a laugh _"He wouldn't be the first and I can assure you he won't be the last_"

"Dammit Felicia this isn't a fucking joke!" Peter snapped in anger "Hammerhead is going to kill you. He won't stop until your a fucking corpse at his feet like every other person that thought they could screw him over!"

The Black Cat went silent at this, she never heard her Spider lose his cool like this before _"...Well it pays that I still have all nine lives left"_

"Felicia!" Peter said, he was getting close, just a few blocks from her penthouse.

_"Love you Spider, I'll... I'll miss you"_ Felicia said before the call ended.

"No Felicia- agh dammit!" Peter yelled as he pushed himself harder and harder.

He was just down the street from her place, he just needed a few more seconds and he'd be there. With his eyesight, augmented even further by the lenses in his suit, Peter could see her approaching the door to her penthouse's patio, her back to him. Pure unadulterated terror struck Peter as he web zipped to the corner of a building and launched himself off it with so much force that the concrete actually shattered from his lift off.

FELICLA!" Peter shouted as he soared towards the woman as she slowly turned back towards him with a small smile as she opened the door-

**BOOOOM!**

The shockwave of the explosion sent Peter flying back, his ears ringing from the sheer volume of the blast and his insides felt like they were slammed against the back of his body. Everything was a blur as Peter felt his body collide with the edge of a rooftop before gravity pulled him down and he felt himself fall towards the ground some hundred feet below, his spider-sense flaring in his skull like a fire alarm. He tried to fight off the feeling, tried to regain hiss senses and raised an arm to shoot a web line out to catch himself before his back suddenly collided with the roof of a car...

...

_"Just how durable are you?" _

_Peter blinked as he turned his head from the window that showed a raging storm outside to look at Felicia as she rested her chin on his chest and looked up at him with curiosity. Her hair was a mess and her makeup was smeared from all the sweat, kissing and bodily fluids the two exchanged over the past few hours. And the way his apartment's crap lighting and occasional flashes of lightning outside hit her just right made her seem eternal in a sense, like she wasn't real but she was. _

_To the wall crawler, she never looked more beautiful and he's met the likes of Emma Frost and Black Widow. _

_Peter gave an amused grin as he rested a hand behind his head while the other ran through Felicia's white locks, causing her to close her eyes and breath in deep as his fingers traced patterns over her scalp "Why you asking?" _

_"Just curious is all" Felicia moaned as she leaned into Peter's touch before she sat up and slowly climbed on to his wait, her slit resting on his slowly hardening member. She brushed her hair to the side as she looked down at her lover "I've seen you on the news take hits from guys like Rhino, Sandman, hell even Stilt-Man when he caught you with that field goal kick the other day. Yet you get up and walk it off like it's nothing" _

_Peter chuckled at this, his hands making their way up Felicia's sides "Well it's not so much I'm really durable, even though I am, so much as I'm just really stubborn. You knock me back down and I just get back up... eventually... when I've stopped crying and withering in pain usually" _

_Felicia grinned softly at this as she leaned down, her hair falling around the two like a small white curtain "Well, try not to get hit too much by guys like that. I'd hate to find out my favorite Spider got his ribs crushed because he thought he could go toe to toe with the Juggernaut" _

_Peter couldn't stop the laugh from escaping as he reached up and cupped Felicia's face and had his thumb run over her lips for her to capture with her mouth and lightly bite down on it._

_"You know, it's funny that you mention that..." _

...

At first Peter didn't feel the impact, at least the pain.

Just an uncomfortable pressure on his back and several pointy edges poking into his back and shoulders and the back of his thigh. Then little by little Peter's pain receptors kicked on and he began to feel the damage done to his body. His back felt wet, especially around the areas he could feel something digging into his back and his left shoulder felt like it may have been dislocated. He could hear people around him, some screaming from the explosion above them, others asking Peter if he was all right and others getting on their phones and calling the police about what just happened.

Peter blinked several times as his vision began to clear and he found himself staring up at the dark light polluted sky of Manhattan with a few people's faces at the corner of his vision as they tried to get a better look at the wall crawler.

"Hey, I think he's-" one of them began before Peter sat upright suddenly and hissed out in pain as he felt his suit tear from the jagged metal that was once the rooftop of a nice looking Chevy.

"ARRRGH!" Peter growled in pain as pain raced up his back. He tried to slide off the car but he ended up toppling over and hitting the ground with a pained groan.

"Oh shit, hey someone call an ambulance" a man said as he crouched down next to Peter "Hey Spider-man, are you okay?"

"Dude just got flung into the air by a explosion and landed on a car, what do you think?" another person said in a sarcastic tone as he came to Peter's other side to try and help the wall crawler stand "Don't worry Spidey, help's coming"

"F-Felicia...?" Peter said in a dazed state, his head was spinning and he could barely focus as he looked around for the tell, tell whit hair of the infamous thief.

One of the men blinked at this and shared a look with the other man "Uh, their ain't no Felicia here, least any I can see"

Peter stumbled forward before he extracted himself from the two good Samaritans , ignoring their please for him to stop as he looked up at Felicia's burning apartment and leaped into the air and shot a web line out towards it. If he wasn't agonizing over the pain his body was in when he landed on a car, he was now as he struggled to keep a grip on his web line while his entire body screamed in pain. Peter wasn't certain what was keeping him conscious, let alone able to keep moving but he'd take it. All that mattered was seeing if Felicia was still alive. He landed on what was left of the balcony's ledge and looked around frantically, ignoring the heat as he desperately tried to find Felicia, bruised and half dead, but so very much alive.

But he didn't, all he saw was fire and smoke and even if he could see through it, the force and heat of the explosion, and at the distance Felicia was from the epicenter of such a blast... their wouldn't be much of a body left to find.

"No, no, no, no, no" Peter said as he tried to take a step forward before the pain in his leg became too much and it finally gave out, causing him to fall to his knees with a pained scream. He closed his eyes in frustration and slammed his bloodied, broken hand into the ground with a yell as he fought back the tears that were threatening to fall as the penthouse burned before him.

Felicia Hardy had used up all nine lives.

She was gone.

...

* * *

Next chapter, Loss...


	2. Chapter 2

answers to reviewers questions or statements:

**rmarcano321**: Yes and no, it was more the game that inspired me but I'll be taking a few things from the story Evil that men do and add them into here, particularly around Felicia's backstory.

**Trey Alexander:** Yeah I found it a little odd that Peter wasn't... a little darker for Turf Wars. I mean not even several days prior, Hammerhead, far as Peter knew, blew up Felicia, someone he clearly had strong feelings for still and I'm kinda bummed that Hammerhead didn't play on that when he interacted with Spider-man, taunting him with it. Comics Hammerhead would have in a heart beat, just because he could. Would have made the story darker yeah, but it would have been a believable transition to a darker storyline and hey who knows and even darker sequel down the road. If their planning to introduce Venom and Green Goblin, story's gonna be dark in of itself already so might as well get people ready for it.

**cabrera1234**: Hammerhead hurt Peter, now he's gonna hurt the man back.

**Project Emrys**: Uh, okay?

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

Felicia's funeral a little over a week after the explosion at her penthouse wasn't a very grand affair.

It was just Peter himself, Mary Jane who was there more for Peter than the late jewel thief, Felicia's mother Lydia Hardy who looked even older and more frail than his late Aunt did in her final hours and Felicia's former heist crew, Doctor Boris Korpse and Bruno Grainger, all standing in the rain as dark gray clouds hung over heard with the occasional rumble of thunder in the distance. Peter barely listened to a word that was said during the entire thing, everything around him was just a blur, like he was still suffering from some kind of long lasting concussion from the bomb Hammerhead set off. He knew where he was, what was happening around him and sorta understood what someone was saying to him, but at the same time it didn't seem to register in his mind.

Part of it was because if Peter didn't acknowledge it, if he didn't hear the priest talk about Felicia finally being laid to rest after such a hard and chaotic life, then maybe he could fool himself into thinking that she was still alive somewhere, just waiting for the perfect moment to crop up again, like always. But the rational part of Peter's mind, the cold logical side of him, quickly beat such thoughts down. Felicia wasn't enhanced like he was, her body wouldn't have been able to take the force of the explosion, hell his wouldn't be able to either.

She was well and truly gone... all because he wasn't fast enough to get to her in time.

'_Why'd it have to be her though?'_ Peyer thought sadly as he stated at the plaque that had Felica's name, her year of birth and year of death '_Out of everyone, why her? She never hurt anyone, not really. she was just... Felicia' _

Perhaps the universe, or whatever unholy monster runs it thought that Peter hadn't quite lost enough yet. Maybe it thought that it needed to take away someone that in all honesty made Peter feel more alive than ever. Felicia made being Spider-man feel like it wasn't some obligation, or some sense of duty, she made it seem like it was a part of his very being. That he could live is life just as much in the suit as he does out of it, maybe more.

Out of the corner of his eye, Peter noticed Mary Jane move a little closer to him and gently take his hand in her's and rub her thumb gently over his bandaged knuckles, an attempt to try and comfort him as the ceremony drew to a close and Felicia's mother stepped forward to place a single white Lily in front of the small plaque before Bruno stepped forward and placed her coat around her shoulders before he and Boris led her away. They didn't so much as glance at Peter and for that he was grateful, he couldn't bear to look any of them in the eyes, not after this, especially Lydia.

After Felicia's mother and former crew left, Peter stepped forward with his own flower, a small blue tiger lily, one of Felicia's favorites and kneeled down and placed it next to Lydia lily.

"I'm... I'm sorry I couldn't save you Felicia..." Peter whispered as tears slowly fell from his eyes, thankfully the rain running down his face easily masked them "I tried... god I did but... I guess I just wasn't fast enough again"

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, kneeling in the mud looking at her name. But by the time he felt Mary Jane place her hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at her, his neck 'popped' and noticed how sore his knee felt.

"Come on Pete, let's get you out of the rain" the red head said in a quiet voice.

Peter nodded as he gave Felicia's grave on last look before getting up and letting his girlfriend pull him away, even if deep down he just wanted to stay. They didn't make to too far before Lydia Hardy was in front of them, a glare aimed right towards Peter while Bruno stood behind her, trying to carefully pull the older woman back.

"Mrs. Hardy I-" Peter began before he was cut off by a sudden slap across the face.

"It's because of you my baby girl is dead" Lydia said, struggling to not break down as her mascara ran down her face like black tears, her eyes red from exhaustion and crying so much.

Mary Jane stepped between Per and the elder Hardy, hoping to prevent the woman from taking any more hits towards Peter "Mrs. Hardy, Peter did everything he could-"

"But he didn't" Lydia snapped at Mary Jane with a enraged expression as she pointed over their shoulders towards Felicia's grave "If he did, I wouldn't be burying her today!"

Mary Jane had no response to that as Lydia glared back at Peter with sheer and utter spite "I hope you never know what it's like to lose a child Mister Parker, I truly do..."

And without another word, she turned and left, leaving Bruno standing there, looking as uncomfortable as Mary Jane felt before he gave them both a nod and quickly hurried after the last living Hardy while Peter simply stood there with an angry red mark on his face.

A reminder to his failure.

...

_"Do you ever wonder what's on the other side Spider?" _

_Peter glanced at Felicia as the two sat on the ledge of a rooftop, overlooking a small shipping yard where the Kingpin's men and a few low level crime bosses were meeting at for some kind if sit down. The two had been there for close to an hour in silence when Felicia suddenly sprung her odd question. _

_"Huh?" Peter sounded, confused by what the black and white clad woman meant. _

_Felicia turned towards him with a thoughtful look on her face as she crossed her legs at the knee and rested her elbow on her knee and her face on her hand "You know, an afterlife. Do you ever stop and wonder if there is one? Some place we all go to after we die? Or is it just... nothing. After this, that's it. Done" _

_Peter blinked at this while his hand drifted to the back of his head and began to rub it, a default nervous tick of his "Well... I never gave it much thought to be honest. I mean I'm sure there is something on the other side. Not sure what, but I don't think it's just 'nothing'"_

_"How can you be so sure?" Felicia asked with a furrowed brow. _

_"Well... I mean there's Thor" Peter pointed out with a shrug "If he, a god, exists, then why can't an after life too? It may not be quit what they described at church or whatever religious place you go to, but there's probably one there, several maybe. You just uh, gotta die to get to one of them" _

_"Well that's comforting" Felicia said with an amused eye roll. _

_"Why so curious about the afterlife?" Peter asked with a curious expression "What, you think this may be the day we get done in or something? Cause if it is, yee have little faith in my amazing quips and jokes. It's honestly the only reason I've lasted this long, the bad guys treasure them as a guilty pleasure and wouldn't be able to live with themselves if I died" _

_"I'm sure..." Felicia said with a small grin before she leaned forward and planted a small kiss on Peter's covered cheek "Though I think you've lasted this long handsome because you've had me watching your back" _

_"I'd prefer you also help watch my front, it tends to get hit more often than my back does" Peter replied with a snort. _

_"I'll keep that in mind Spider" Felicia nodded with a giggle before they both noticed several cars pulling up to the yard "Well, looks like things are about to kick off" _

_"That they are" Peter said with a nod as he stood up and cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders while Felicia simply extended her arms over her head until she heard and felt a faint 'pop' and let out a moan that Peter thought was a bit too erotic for a simple stretch._

_Not that he didn't mid, her actions gave him a great view of her chest and made him think not for the last time what it'd be like to have his face between those wonderful orbs of flesh. She's been dropping hints, at least he thinks she has, that she wanted to have sex with him the past few nights, but Peter wasn't quite sure he was ready for something that intimate with someone he's only known the better part of a month and a half. _

_"You haven't been with many women before, have you?" Felicia said as she turned towards Peter with a smirk, having caught his gaze on her chest. _

_Peter blushed at being caught red handed and turned away from the smirking thief "W-What uh, what are you talking about?" _

_Felicia shrugged "You act all flustered when I do things like that, or you stare a little longer than what most would say is appropriate like you haven't gotten any in a while and that's the closet your getting" _

_"Sorry" Peter said with a wince, causing Felicia to laugh. _

_"I said most, not all..." she said with a teasing glint in her eye "In fact, I like you watching me. Does wonders for my vanity" _

_"Glad to help" Peter said with a cough before Felicia walked up and placed her chin on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his chest. She laughed at how tense he got, how his infamous motor mouth had gone silent. Peter was certain she could feel his heart hammering against his rib cage with how close her hands were to it. _

_"Easy Spider, I'm just teasing you" she said in a low sensual whisper "You don't mind, do you?" _

_"N-Not at all" Peter stammered "I-I man it's not very professional but I think we're good enough p-partners that it-" _

_"Partners, is that all you want to be?" Felicia asked with a small grin "I was thinking we were friends" _

_"I-If you want to be" Peter said in a shy tone that caused Felicia to giggle. _

_"I do" she said as she leaned up on her tip toes and planted a small kiss on his mask covered cheek before she stepped back and took a second to collect herself "__Come on handsome, let's go shake things us a bit. Then afterwards, maybe I'll do a bit of shaking for you hmm?" Felicia said with a wink as she leaped off the ledge and fired off her grapple and used it to swing towards the yard with a faint echoing laugh that sent shivers down Peter's spine. _

...

Half an hour later the two, still dressed in the suit and dress they wore for Felicia's funeral, soaking wet and a little muddied, sat at a small booth at Micks, a small basket of fries between them.

"You gonna be okay?" Mary Jane asked after a few minutes of sitting in silence.

"Do you want an answer or do you want the truth?" Peter responded quietly, not looking up to meet MJ's eyes.

The red sighed sadly "The truth, even though I already know what it is, so I guess there's no point in telling me"

Peter nodded as he stared down at the hinds, the bandages wrapped around his knuckles were red, he'll have to change them later when he got home. Mary Jane said nothing as she stared at Peter with a saddened expression. She felt a bitter sting of jealousy and ager at Felicia even though it was ridiculous to feel something like that towards a dead woman. But seeing Peter, her boyfriend, so broken up over a girl he hadn't seen in the better part of five months, well it ate at her. A selfish part of her wanted to tell Peter that Felicia brought this on her self, that she knew the risks of trying to play someone like Hammerhead, but then she'd look into Peter's eyes and see just how fractured he really was on the inside.

Felicia Hardy's death had well and truly broken him.

"So, you got any leads on Hammerhead?" Peter asked suddenly, dragging Mary Jane from her thoughts.

"What?" the red head said with some surprise as Peter stared at her with an unreadable expression.

"Hammerhead" Peter repeated as he leaned forward, his eyes a little darker than she remembered, a little angrier "He's gone to ground after... after what he did. I can't find him, so I was wondering if you heard anything on your end"

"No... nothing, far as I know" Mary Jane said with a shake of her head.

Yes in fact, she had.

According to several of her sources, with a few variations here and there, she was able to discover that Hammerhead had retreated to some safe house somewhere out in Long Island for the time being. Why, the red head couldn't begin to understand though she believed it may be because he wanted to see how Spider-man would react, how the Maggia intend to react to his attempted take over. Whatever the case, he was gone for the time being and Mary Jane hoped it'd be a long time before he tried to stick his metal plated skull back into the city.

Time that Mary Jane could use to help Peter heal and come to terms with this loss and hopefully recover before that sociopath returned.

'_And I probably just jinxed us... way to go MJ'_ Mary Jane thought with a sigh as she reached out and took Peter's hand "Peter, I'm not gonna pretend to understand what it's like. Losing someone that you... cared about"

Peter said nothing, he just turned his gaze towards the window and looked out at the passing traffic and dozens of passing pedestrians, some in rain coats, others with umbrella and some without any kind of protection from the downpour that was hitting the city.

Mary Jane frowned at this as she leaned forward and with her other hand, grabbed Peter lightly by the chin and forced him to look at her "Hey, don't... don't do that. Don't shut yourself off and bottle all that up inside of you"

"Would you rather I vent it out on some random thug?" Peter snapped before he stopped himself at the look MJ gave him and took a deep breath "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Peter, your angry, I understand" Mary Jane said as she settled back in her seat but keeping her hand on Peter's, ignoring the feeling of the blood bleeding through the bandages "But you can't let this control you. This is the kinda thing hammerhead wants. He wants you to try and come at him when your not in your right mind, he wants you blinded by anger. Because he knows he'll be able to toy and manipulate you even easier than before"

"And he's doing a phenomenal job at it" Peter growled as he turned away from Mary Jane again "He called you know, after I got out of the vault Felicia left me in he called one of his guys and I answered the phone instead..."

"What'd he say?" Mary Jane asked nervously.

"He said I shouldn't worry about the drives that Felicia had or her... that he was gonna blow her sky high when she got back to her penthouse" Peter revealed, the conversation with Hammerhead still perfectly clear in his mind.

"Sounds like he set it off remotely" Mary Jane theorized "which meant he was there, somewhere, that night. Waiting for her, then for you. Waiting until you got close..."

"But that's thing that I don't understand, how did he know where she lived?" Peter said with a troubled expression on his face "Far as I know, the two never met before. Even when she was my partner. And Felicia was always careful about who knew who she was and who didn't. Even I didn't know who she really was until towards the end, before she left"

"Maybe he tracked her down back when he was looking for someone to get him those drives and figured out who she was under that mask of hers?" Mary Jane offered "or maybe he had some cop he has on his payroll do some digging and told him. They had her stuff in lock up for a while, right?"

"Yeah... maybe" Peter said with a nod.

The two settled into a tense silence, Peter brooding over answers for questions that eluded him and Mary Jane worrying about what Peter was going to do now. She's never seen him like this, so vulnerable, utterly beaten, even after May's death. Suddenly Peter's phone went off, or more specifically, the crime monitor program he had on it. Mary Jane sat there as Peter ignored it, his gaze unfocused. After a few seconds, Mary Jane loudly cleared her throat and nodded towards his phone.

"Are you gonna deal with that?" she asked in an unsure tone, Peter didn't look like he was in any hurry.

Peter reached down and pulled his phone out and took a quick glance at it before he shut it off and put it back.

"It's a fire, the police can handle it without me"

Mary Jane blinked at this before she adjusted her seat and hoped she could keep the unease out of her voice "Are you sure? Could be a pretty bad fire-"

"They've been doing fine decades before I came along, and their gonna be decades after I'm done. They'll be fine" Peter said as he turned and looked at Mary Jane with a hard expression "Unless it's Hammerhead or the Maggia, I don't care"

"That doesn't exactly sound like the Peter I know" Mary Jane said quietly.

"Do you want me to go?" Peter said as his eyes narrowed "Is me being here that big of an issue for you? You didn't have to be there, or here, today!"

Mary Jane had to really fight down the burst of anger she felt rise up in her chest at the way Peter spoke to her. In the past, whenever Peter was hurt, be it physically or mentally or even emotionally, he tended to lash out at people. After mentally counting down from ten, Mary Jane took a deep breath and looked Peter right in the eye.

"Your right, I didn't have to be here today" she said as she leaned forward on the table and rested her elbows on the edge "But I came because of you. I'm worried that her death has hurt you far more than your willing to admit. That Hammerhead hurt you worse than your used to. I'm terrified that if I'm not here for you, either as your girlfriend or just a friend, your gonna do something stupid"

"Well I'm not" Peter snapped.

"Your ignoring people in danger Peter" Mary Jane said with narrowed eyes as she pointed towards his phone "That's pretty stupid in my book"

The red headed reporter had to resist the urge to flinch under the glare that Peter shot her before he sighed and nodded, the tension between the two gone and in it's wake, a sense of exhaustion.

"Your right... as usual"

Mary Jane couldn't help the small grin from showing on her face before she took a deep breath and placed her hand on his "Look, just go and deal with that fire while I chase down some leads on the Maggia. I'll call if I find something and if not... you can come over later tonight, okay?"

Peter nodded as he cupped Mary Jane's hands with his own before he took a deep breath and sighed "Okay..."

He slowly stood up from the booth and made to grab his wallet to pay for their fires when Mary Jane waved him off.

"I got it, just go and do what you do best" she said.

"are you sure?" Peter asked, an uncertain look on his face.

"I am, now get going" Mary Jane said with a small shooing motion.

Peter grinned slightly before he nodded and turned and made his way to the door as Mary Jane watched him go with a worried expression on her face. She didn't like lying to him about not knowing about Hammerhead, but he was in no shape to go up against the crazed mob boss any time soon.

After what happened, Mary Jane wasn't certain he ever would be again.

...

The fire as it turned out was a bit to much for the first responders and the entire affair could have ended a lot worse than it did had Peter not been there as Spider-man to help get the last trapped civilians out of the burning structure and save a few cops and fire fighters from being buried alive under a few tones of burning building. A part of Peter was glad that Mary Jane talked some sense into him, about not ignoring anything not related to the Maggia or Hammerhead... but another, smaller, darker part of him was angry that they weren't the ones behind the fire. It would have given him a perfect excuse to start tearing through New York's underworld for them, o at least pay their publicly known Dons a 'friendly' visit.

He also got a call from Miles earlier, the kid, bless his heart, was being a lot more reserved in asking Peter about when they would advance his training. Peter wondered if Mary Jane told him what happened that night or if the kid was as perspective as Peter believed him to be and simply put two and two together and concluded that now wasn't a good time to bother Peter so much.

_'Way to go Peter, kid just wants to learn and hepl and yet your giving off the vibe you want nothing to do with him'_ Peer thought with a sigh as he removed his mask and dropped it on his desk and fell into his seat with a groan.

His suit was covered in burns and small tears from the fire and his hands were starting to hurt again and if the liquid he could feel under his gloves was blood, then some of the scabs had split open again at some point. It was obvious he'd need to wear another suit while this one got repaired, some of Peter's tech worked in conjecture with his advance suit and when he confronted Hammerhead, he'd need every advantage he could get.

_'So what to wear until I can get this thing repaired'_ Peter thought as he sat up and wandered over to his closet, removing the top portion of his suit to reveal a litany of still fading bruises and scars from his impact with the car the night of explosion.

Peter tossed it aside as he opened the door and looked down at a small chest he had with a electronic combination lock. He entered the four digit pin and unlocked the chest before he pulled out where he had better lighting and opened it to reveal the two spare suits he had.

The first was his classic suit, something he hadn't worn since he repaired it after he took down Fisk. The suit lying next to it... was the dark suit that Felicia left him in one of her hideouts.

It was black with red colored lenses and a matching red spider symbol on the front and back that had it's legs bend so that the tips of the limbs would almost meet. Despite it's rather simple appearance compared to his advanced suit, it was made, to his shock and worry, out of a combination of nano-mesh and some sort of next generation Kevlar bi-weave. The nano-mesh was stored mostly in the back where it could produce four spider like limbs while the gloves were fitted with a set of claws for each finger that he discovered were made of Adamantium. The suit also possessed a rather advance biometric scanner that could allow Peter to see the heat signatures of an individual, even though most surfaces and even detect their heart beats.

How Felicia got any of this was beyond Peter's knowledge since he knew for a fact some of this stuff would be something locked deep in some remote classified government complex. He was hoping she could explain but... she wouldn't be doing much explaining now.

Peter shook his head as he reached down and pulled out the mask for the dark suit and stared into it's lenses. The way the mask was designed made them look like he was angry, less friendly and more violent. It was a stark contrast to the friendly persona he's tried to make as Spider-man, someone that you wouldn't be afraid of, not like Daredevil who looked and acted like some tormented violent animal from hell.

After looking into the blank red lenses of the suit for what seemed like hours, his phone's crime monitor went off again. Placing the mask down, Peter stood up and approached his phone and glanced down at the screen before his eyes darkened at what he saw. The Maggia that worked under Hammerhead had just fire bombed a school where one of the other Don's kids went to school. Without another word, Peter turned to suit up, he was done playing responder and defender to Hammerhead and the Maggia.

This time, they were going on the defensive...

...

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, Retaliation...


	3. Chapter 3

answers to reviewers questions or statements:

**CRUDEN**: Yep.

**Project Emerys**: Well MJ is smart enough to know that Peter needs time to grieve, not go waging a one man war on Hammerhead and the maggia.

**Trey Alexander**: I'm basing the Dark suit off how i have it set up in the game, with the iron spider arms and improved bio scanner. The Adamantium claws are just something I decided to add on my own cause the dark suit gloves look like they have actual claws on them.

**Thng ip Vng**: He wont be in this.

**DarkThunderbird1604**: Honestly, I'm debating on how to go about that. I have two versions of this story laid out, one is which she lives and the heart wrenching drama associated with that, the other being she's actually dead and the heart wrenchingness of that. It'll be a while till I get to the point of the story where I gotta pick one or the other but if I did go with her having faked her death, pissed would not be doing Peter's feelings on her manipulation justice, not even close.

**anoyak111**: Harry at the very least. Might be what triggers Osborn to become the Green Goblin in a later game.

Disclaimer: I don't' own an Marvel characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

Peter wasn't very familiar with Maggia hideouts or their 'legiteament businesses' or their more ill-legiteament endeavors on account that until recently, they haven't been a major problem or had much of an impact on the criminal element in the city with Fisk as the Kingpin of Crime. So having little top go on, Peter decided to go to the one place that he knew various members or associates of the crime family alliance tended to visit more than most places.

The Bar with No Name.

It was considered neutral ground by many of New York's criminals, a place where they could go and unwind and relax without fear of having the cops called on them. The only rules were no fighting, no weapons and if you had powers, they were forbidden from being used. Despite the criminal element's less than obedient nature, surprisingly, the rules were followed, if only because if the bar's owner or bartender didn't beat you to within an inch of life, the various other, more violent patrons, would if not outright kill you because you tried to make a mess of their 'safe zone'.

So when Peter decided that he was gonna pay the bar a visit for information on any major Maggia holdings, he wanted his suit stocked to the brim with web fluid, a few web bombs, some extra electric web cartridges and the four spider legs that could be deployed were functioning. He did a quick check of his suit and equipment as he stood on a ledge that overlooked the alley that housed the entrance to the Bar before taking a deep breath as he raised his arm and shot out a web line to swing down on.

_'Okay Pete, just go in, ask around and leave. That's all your here to do. Find information on Hammerhead and the Maggia'_ Peter reminded himself as he swung down into the darkened alley and landed in a crouch without a sound _'Hopefully there's no Rogues in there. Regular run of the mill thugs I can handle down there. Guys with enhanced powers on the other hand, on top of the regular run of the mill thugs, not so much' _

Peter glanced around cautiously for signs of anyone approaching or leaving he bar before he silently crept towards the door, a single light just over the frame shining down for anyone wanting to get in to find it in the dark alley. He could hear a cat meow in the distance along with muffled barking from nearby buildings that allowed dogs and the traffic behind him going on about it's usual routine.

Peter came to a stop before the door and stared at it for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and knocked on the door and waited for someone on the other end to answer as his mind wandered back to a time he did something vaguely similar to this.

Only then, he wasn't alone.

...

_Peter had his reservations about what they were doing, about what they going to do. _

_"Are you sure this is a good idea Cat?" Peter asked with uncertainty as he stared down at a strip club that was owned by the New York chapter of the Dogs of Hell. _

_Felicia gave Peter a bemused look as she leaned against an air conditioning unit and folded her arms across her chest "You said you wanted to stop these guys from trying to distribute their 'product' in Queens and Manhattan right?" _

_Peter nodded "Yeah, but attacking them like this... I don't know, wont that makes things worse?" _

_"Like force them to push back?" Felicia asked with a raised brow before she shrugged "It could, or it'll convince these Hell's Angels washouts to fuck off with their shit and go somewhere else" _

_"Yeah..." Peter said with a troubled expression under his mask. _

_Felicia's grin fell a little as she pushed herself off the air conditioning unit and placed her hand on Peter's shoulder "Hey, trust me. They aren't gonna retaliate if that's what your afraid off. They don't have the man power out here like they do out west. And their about to have a lot less once you and I are done with these guys" _

_Peter glanced at Felicia and nodded as he took a deep breath and ran a quick check of his web shooters to make sure they were fully loaded and working. Once he was sure his equipment was ready, he turned towards Felicia and nodded "All right, let's go shut down this dog house once and for all" _

_Felicia couldn't stop the snort from escaping as she turned to fire off her grappling hook "Okay mister tough and intimidating" _

_Peter didn't get a chance to respond as Felicia swung towards the club, her target the bouncer standing beside the door. Peter's target was the door beside the man and brought his knees up to his chest as he swung towards the door before shooting his legs out just as he was about o hit it. While he breached the club, Felicia slammed into the bouncer, her wedged boots striking the man in the chest hard enough that Peter was certain a rib cracked and slammed him into the wall with a painful 'thud' followed by a pained scream. __The scream however was drowned out by the sound of Peter kicking in the door, cracking it into several large pieces that went flying and hit two bikers that were already on their way to the door with a gym bag in each hand. Peter couldn't help the grin from forming under his mask as he landed in a roll and sprung up between the two startled men and grabbed them both by the napes of their necks and slammed their heads into one another, knocking them out or at the very least disorienting them. _

_"It's the fucking bug!" another man yelled over the sound of the music playing as he and several others shot up from their tables, drawing a wide assortment of pocket knives and small revolvers or pistols. _

_"Hey guys, nice place you have here, heard it was real pet friendly. You don't mind if I brought my cat do you?" Peter asked as he rolled his shoulders as he took a quick scan of the room and counted at least seven Dogs of Hell bikers visible, all spread out around the room with six strippers all rushing for cover. _

_At that moment, Felicia emerged in the door way with a pair of flash bangs in her hands, the pins pulled, and threw them into the room. Peter watched as the two small non-lethal grenades hit the floor before going off, blinding the various biker men while he leaped into action. _

_'Thank you glare reducing lens upgrade, courtesy of me studying and copying Mysterio's latest fishbowl of a helmet' Peter thought with a grin as he sent a punch into a rather overweight looking man, sending him flying into another biker who in turn fell into a table, breaking it. _

_As the rest stumbled around, trying to regain their bearings, Felicia fired her grappling hook at one man as she ran towards him, grabbing him by the wrist that held a pistol and yanked him towards her as she leaped over him and pulled. The result was the pistol in the man's hand snapping up and hitting the man clear in the face hard enough to break his nose while Felicia kicked him in the back of the knee, forcing him to the ground. Without pausing, Felicia flicked her wrist and had the grappling hook unlatch itself from the moaning biker and swung her arm up, the hook still loose and whipped it into the face of another man, leaving several shallow cuts on his face. _

_'Ouch, that's gotta hurt' Peter winced at the sight as he sent a punch into one man's face while he shot several web bullets at another, one to cover his gun in webbing and prevent him from shooting, the other to cover his eyes just as he started to see straight again and the final one to his foot to catch him and cause him to trip and fall over. _

_As Peter turned to see how many more bikers there were, he felt his spider-sense go off and heard a distinct click of a gun's safety going off and turn just in time to see a stripper, without a top on and giving Peter a full view of her chest, aiming at him with some sort of magnum. Under normal circumstances Peter would have either disarmed the person holding the weapon with a well placed web line or just blitz them and deliver a hay maker to their face, but since the wielder of the fire arm was a half naked woman, Peter found himself hesitating to move. Not because it was a woman, he learned the hard way that when it comes to criminals, their gender meant jack when they were trying to fill you with high speed lead, it was because she was well... topless. _

_"Uh, before you shoot me could you put a top on-" Peter began before Felicia was suddenly beside the woman and delivered a rather painful punch to the woman's jaw that snapped her head to the side and sent her tumbling to the ground. _

_Peter blinked at the downed stripper as the gun slid from her hands before he noticed Felicia's somewhat amused grin. _

_"So the Spider does have a weakness, boobs. Good to know" she teased with a wink that caused Peter to blush. _

_"W-W-Well she uh... and she didn't have a uh..." Peter tried to formulate a response as Felicia shook her head with a laugh. _

_"It's fine Spider, it happens to the best of us" she said as she walked by and patted him on the shoulder "Come on, we still need to clear out the basement" _

_"R-Right" Peter said with a cough as he leaped to the ceiling and followed Felicia though a curtain hung in a doorway and into a dimly lit hall with a stair case at the end of it going down. _

_The two descended down the dark stair well with Peter crawling along the ceiling while Felicia cautiously made her way down by foot. They stopped at the base of the stairs and peeked through the entryway to see a singular hallway with four doors, all closed, on each side and a single double door at the other end f the hall. Peter looked down at Felicia and nodded when they made eye contact before he crawled farther out into the hall and fell with a near silent 'thud' before he pressed himself against the wall next to the door and listened in while Felicia made her way to the door opposite his and pulled out a little snake cam that was connected to a phone that she had acquired specifically for it. _

_"You hear anything?" she whispered as she had the cam slip under the door and scan the room in both thermal and night vision before she pulled it back and made her way to Peter's door an did the same. _

_"No" Peter responded back quietly as he went to the next door with Felicia went behind him. _

_It took a few minutes, one of the rooms had another door in it that they had to check and were thus forced to pick the lock and enter the room smelling of sex, alcohol and whatever drugs the previous occupants were using before they vacated it. A quick check showed that the door only led to a small bathroom with a shower that was remarkably clean despite the state of the room it was connected to. _

_"Wow, I'd almost want to have sex in this thing" Felicia said as she ran a clawed finger across the glass of the shower door with a smirk. _

_"Something tells me if you ran a black light through here, you'd be burning that little claw" Peter said with a snort as he tried to ignore the aroma of drugs in the room. _

_"Probably" Felicia said with a chuckle as they exited the room and approached the last door at the very end of the hall. _

_Just as Felicia was about to slip her snake cam under it, Peter felt his spider-sense go off just as he heard the faint clicks of guns behind the door. In a blur, Peter grabbed Felicia and leaped up to the ceiling and used his body to shield her as multiple bullets tore though the door, sending splinters of wood flying, some of them hitting Peter in the back. After several seconds, the bullets stopped and Peter and Felicia waited silently to see if the bikers inside would come out or not. _

_"Think we got them?" one of the people inside asked. _

_"Maybe, go check" another said. _

_"Fuck that" the first voice said with a scoff "You check, I'm staying here where I know it's safe" _

_"Fine then you fucking cunt. Oi, Phil, Leo, go check" the second voice said with annoyance. _

_"Fuck that noise" either Phil or Leo said with a snort. _

_"Man, I ain't going out there with a boner like this, you check" the other voice said with a grunt as the sounds of a belt being fumbled with could be heard. _

_"C-Can I go now" a woman's voice said, quiet and terrified. _

_"You can get after you finish blowing me, not before" one of the voice said. _

_After a few seconds, Peter slowly lowered Felicia to the ground before he made his way in front of the door, still attached to the wall and waited. The two shared a nod as Peter cracked his knuckles while Felicia took a deep breath and looked up at Peter. _

_'On three' Felicia mouthed as she held up a three fingers and began to slowly count down before she kicked in the door and stepped back as Peter swung in and kicked the biker with a shotgun in the chest, sending him flying into table a near the center of the room stacked with cash while Felicia moved in behind him and threw a bola at the other biker that was raising his rifle to shoot Peter in the side. _

_The stripper that was there let out a scream as she flew to the floor as the remaining two Dogs of Hell aimed their pistols at Peter and Felicia with snarls and squeezed the triggers. _

**_BANG!_**

**_BANG!_**

**_BANG!_**

_Peter winced at the volume of the gunshots in such a closed space, which was made even worse with his enhanced hearing. Thankfully his spider-sense, which his body was so attuned to that it practically moved his body on its own if his mind was too distracted, and had him leap into the air with a helix flip and shoot two web bullets at each man, hitting them both in the face and covering their eyes. Both bikers let out startled yells before they were silenced by Felicia leaping over and sending a kick to one man's head while she delivered a powerful elbow to his gut before grabbing the back of his head and bringing it into her knee, breaking his nose. _

_As the two remaining men went down, Peter scanned the room to see if there was anyone else in there besides them before he let out a breath and relaxed. _

_"Guess we got the last of them. And hey look they have a few kilos of Coke in the corner that we can show to the police" Peter said as he glanced at Felicia "Not a bad night huh?" _

_"Well... it's not the worse date I've been on" Felicia said with a laugh as she looked around at the various destroyed furniture and a stripper in the corner looking at her and Peter with wide fearful eyes as they stood amongst a bunch of beaten bikers "Though I have to say this is the first date that I've been on since middle school that didn't end with me a few articles of clothing off and my lips around a dick"_

_Peter blushed as he adverted his gaze from the smiling woman as she gave him a very suggestive smile that caused his heart to skip a few beats "Uh, t-that's uh, good to know I guess?" _

_Safe to say, this was the first drug bust that left Peter needing a very cold shower... and it wouldn't be the last whenever Felicia was with him. _

...

Peter couldn't stop the small smile from growing on his face at the memory before he heard someone on the other end of the door and took a deep breath as he waited for the little slot in the door to open.

"What the hell do you want?" the voice behind the door asked after the little slot opened and the man inside saw who was standing there.

"I'm here for information" Peter said as his lenses narrowed "After I get it, I'm gone"

"And how do you intend to get that info?" the bouncer asked with suspicion.

"The old fashioned way... ask" Peter replied with a growl of annoyance.

His response was met with silence before the door slot closed and Peter heard faint mumbling on the other side. After a few seconds, locks were heard being unlocked and the door opened to reveal a tall thin man with a scowl on his face. He stepped aside to allow Peter to step though before he shut and locked the door.

"Fine, but you know the rules bug. No powers, no weapons, no fighting. Ever" the man hissed as he secured the door.

"Like I said, I'm here for information" Peter said as he made his way down the stairs towards the bar, he could hear more than a dozen people talking, some kind of jazz playing and the sounds of a few pinball machines that they had set up going off.

The moment Peter stepped into the bar proper, the conversations stopped and every pair of eyes turned towards him. Peter scanned the crowd for anyone noteworthy. He noticed Boomerang and White Rabbit in one corner at separate tables keeping themselves and the Beetle, he couldn't tell if it was the guy or girl one, in another corner. And over two dozen 'regular' criminals, mostly small timers that at worse spent a few months in jail for theft. Peter gave the crowd another glance before he silently made his way to the bar, ignoring the glares and whispers from the various bar patrons around him.

"Well look who it is..." the bartender said as Peter arrived at the bar and took a seat.

"Not looking for trouble, just want a glass of water. Try to hold the spit if you can" Peter replied, causing the bar tender to snort.

"Here for just a glass of water? What, you wanna enjoy a drink with people that you spend your spare time beating to a pulp"

"Don't brake the law and you won't see me" Peter said with a shrug as he looked behind him and saw White Rabbit was looking right at him with an unreadable expression.

He quickly returned his attention to the glass of water placed in front of him before he looked up at the bartender "So, any Maggia stop by recently?"

"Not that I'm aware of" the man said with a shrug as he picked up a glass to clean "I don't really get involved with the Mob anymore since one of the Dons from the Maggia had my half brother castrated and his wife raped to death"

"Jesus..." Peter whispered with a shake of his head.

He knew the Maggia could get brutal, but eh thought they had some sort of class to them. Then again, Jameson has said plenty of otherwise on his podcast.

"Why you interested in the Maggia any way?" the man said with a frown.

"Their getting out of hand" Peter said as the sound of the explosion at Felicia's penthouse echoed through his head.

The bartender stared at Peter for a long time, his eyes searching Peter's red lenses for something to read before he nodded "Yeah... I guess they are"

"Do you know who might have any kid of information on them?" Peter inquired, tapping his fingers against the surface of the countertop.

"I might..." the bartender said with a frown as he noticed Peter's claws digging into the wood on his countertop every time they hit it "Questions, are you gonna be civil to them?"

"I will if they are" Peter said.

The bartender quirked a brow at this before he nodded "All right, stay here then. I'll go let him know you wanna talk"

"Can't I you just tell me where he's at and I'll go talk to him there?" Peter asked.

"He's in the VIP lounge we've recently had set up. Unless your staff or a VIP member, you can't go back there" the man revealed.

Peter furrowed his brow at this "How do you get a VIP membership? Not get arrested?"

"No, you just gotta pay thirty grand to get it" the bartender said with a shrug as he placed the glass he was cleaning down and made his way out from behind the bar to a metal door on the wall that looked like it was made for a vault rather than a bar for criminals.

_'Hmm, maybe that's why it's made of metal'_ Peter thought as he glanced at his glass of water before pushing it away.

"Are you here for Hammerhead?"

Peter tensed before he slowly looked over his shoulder to see White Rabbit standing there. Now that she was closer, Peter could see the exhaustion in her eyes and her voice was a little hoarse, probably from crying so much. The wall crawler was a little confused on why that would be before he remembered that Felicia and White Rabbit were close friends and before Felicia decided to be his 'partner', they pulled a few heists together.

"Yeah..." Peter said with a small nod.

"What are you gonna do when you find him?" she asked as she sat down next to him and folded her hands in her lap.

Peter didn't respond as he saw the bartender emerge from the metal door with a man behind him that apparently knew about the Maggia. At first glance Peter could tell the man was connected to them, he was dressed in those eye sore suits they liked and he walked with a sorta swagger that all Maggia had, at least the lower ranked ones. White Rabbi followed Peter's gaze and her own expression darkened as the bartender stepped aside and gestured to Peter.

"Spider-man here wants to talk to you about your... associates" the man said evenly as his eyes flickered between the two parties.

The man scoffed as he eyed peter up and down "And what makes you think I'm gonna say anything bug? What, you think I'm gonna tell you jack shit because your acting like some emo faggot now? Man fuck off and I'll pretend I wasn't just dragged out of the best game of poker I've played in a while-"

Peter was a blur as he sprung up from his seat and seized the man by the neck and hoisted him up into the air with a growl. White rabbit jumped out of her seat and took several steps back while the bartender immediately went to the bat behind the bar. Everyone else in the bar stood up and pulled out either a gun or knife at the sudden actions of Spider-man. Boomerang was quickly making his way to he exit while the Beetle remained where they were at, watching the whole scene with a glass of something in their hand.

"Put Anthony down web head" one of the patrons said as he aimed his Glock at Peter "Just because Hammerhead went and blew your whore up doesn't give you a right to come in here and screw with us"

A pin could be heard dropped with how silent it became as Peter's head slowly turned towards the man that spoke to him.

"And I'm out" Beetle said, their voice male.

The armored mercenary stood up and quickly made his way to the exit as Peter kept staring at the now sweating man. White Rabbit shot a glare at the man that spoke and would have gunned him down with the gun built into her umbrella if she didn't leave it at home.

"What... did you just call her" Peter said in a very quiet voice that could barely be heard.

"Hey Jim, you might wanna" one of the patrons near the now identified Jim said before said man spoke.

"Y-You heard me" he stuttered as the red lenses of Peter's mask glared at him "J-Just because your whore is dead-"

Peter interrupted the man by throwing Anthony at him and having his suit deploy the four spider limbs just in time to block a swipe from the Bartender's baseball bat. The man's eyes widened like saucers before one of the limbs sliced through the bat with it's bladed edge, cutting it clean in half before it slapped the man back and into the bar's counter.

And then, all hell broke loose.

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, Walter Hardy...


	4. Chapter 4

answers to reviewers questions or statements:

**rmarcano321**: No, I haven't because they aren't gonna be in this story.

**Bladewolf101**: No they didn't, introducing Venom with a DLC is an insult to the character. Especially with how short the entire City that Never Sleeps is compared to the main game.

**Trey Alexander**: There was technically a level/mission where you infiltrated the Bar with no Name. You were just a Spider-bot.

**CRUDEN**: His personality will do that, makes you forget he's smarter, faster and stronger than he looks. He may not be Thor, Hulk or Sentry but he can duke it out with most if push comes to shove.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel characters seen, mentioned or used.

* * *

_"Take care of her, will you?"_

Those were the words that echoed through Walter's mind as he stared down at the gravestone of his daughter. They repeated in his head, like a chant as his eyes trailed over every word that marked his child's final resting place, like a taunt almost.

"Guess I asked a little too much..." Walter said quietly to himself as he kneeled down at the gravestone and placed a single rose next to the flowers left there by the girl's mother and what eh could only assume was Spider-man and a few members of her old heist crew.

When Walter first heard of Felicia's death, he couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe that his daughter, the one good thing he ever made and treasured more than any of the art pieces he stole in his lifetime, was gone. But after the brutal feeling of lost and anguish had passed, or at the very least lessened, a wave of sheer and utter rage had nearly blinded and consumed him. All he cared about was finding the bastards that took his daughter out of this world and send them to whatever Hell awaited them one limb at a time. But as the days passed and Walter's search for Hammerhead and the men responsible for setting the bombs in Felicia's apartment yielded little to no results, he turned his attention towards Spider-man with the intent of taking his frustration out on him for failing to keep his word.

But trying to locate the wall crawler proved to be an even bigger challenge then trying to find Hammerhead had and ended with similar results.

It wasn't until he found himself standing before the grave of his child that all that anger, all that hate and spite finally drained out of him, leaving a empty, cold feeling in his chest. He raised a hand to his face to wipe away some of the tears that fell from his bloodshot eyes as he stood back up and took a few steps away before he turned and began to make his way to his car.

Walter hadn't even reached for the door handle when his phone went off, causing him to stop and reach into his pocket and pull it out. He checked the caller before he hit answer and held the device up to his ear.

"Castillo, what've got?"

_"Some of my people may have a lead on where Hammerhead may be hiding"_ Castillo Drake, Walter's former partner and fellow student under the legendary Black Fox, revealed.

Walter's eyes narrowed in interest at this as he entered his car and started it up "What is it?"

_"A man, if you can call him that based on what I'm reading about him, by the name of Anthony Flores. He's one of Hammerhead's lieutenants and rumor has it, knows where the man went after he... after what he did to Felicia_" Castillo said with a heavy sigh _"He's at the Bar With No Name" _

Walter's grip on the phone tightened at the mention of the infamous bar's name "Are you certain?"

_"Positive"_ Castillo said.

Walter nodded as he put the car in drive and slowly drove it out of the cemetery's parking lot "Right, thanks for the tip Castillo. I owe you for this"

_"No need Walter"_ Castillo said with a sad smile in his face before his voice grew colder _"Just make that bastard pay for what he did. I'd offer more, but my people are stretched thin enough as it is. Half our number were wiped out by the Devil's Breath and we're struggling to fight off the other four Maggia Dons from trying to take us over"_

"Why would they do that?" Walter asked with a frown "The Maggia never bothered with the Thieves' Guild before"

_"Still trying to figure that out"_ Castillo said on the other end of the line with a sigh "_Maybe they want to use our connections to try and expand and gain more influence faster than their usual ways. Or they've decided that having a 'rogue' crime syndicate operating in their city no longer flies by them" _

Walter hummed at this "Well, if you need help, you know where to find me"

_"Oh I know_" Castillo said with a snort before Walter heard a muffled sound on Castillo's end _"I gotta go Walter, something's come up" _

"Alright, take care Castillo" Walter said.

_"You too" _

...

There are times that Peter hated his enhanced senses.

They've proven useful in the past and have on a number of occasions saved his life. But being in a confined space with multiple guns going off at once along with the sounds of screaming and bottles shattering, Peter was positive he'll be half death by the end of the night.

_'Need to find a way to muffle sound for my masks'_ Peter thought as he grabbed a table and lifted it up and threw it at several gun men, forcing them to cease their shooting and run for cover or risk being hit by the makeshift weapon.

With the lull in gun firing ceasing, Peter rushed towards the men, leaping over several tables and tackled one man to the ground before he picked him up and slammed him into a chair, shattering it and causing he man to groan out in pain. A quick blast of webbing kept the man down as Peter turned and caught the fist of another man and brought him into a fist of hos own, knocking the man senseless and allowing Peter to place his hand on the man's chest and give him a 'light' shove into his associate.

"F-Fuckin bug" the man at Peter's feet muttered as he looked up at the dark clad hero with a dazed but angry expression "All this because of some slut"

"Shut up" Peter hissed as he pulled back his fist to strike the man in the head and knock him out completely when suddenly a glass bottle impacted against the side of his face.

Thankfully the mask for his suit was re-enforced enough to absorb most of the impact and not tear. It did however increase Peter's anger as he slowly turned towards the man that threw the bottle and was unsurprised to see that it was Anthony that threw it at him.

"Shouldn't have done that" Peter growled as he prepared to lunge at the man before a pained scream from White Rabbit distracted him, allowing Anthony to race behind the bar's counter and grab one of the guns stashed there by the bartender.

Peter turned to see one of the thugs at the bar had grabbed White Rabbit in a bear hug while another was approaching her with a knife drawn. Peter's eyes narrowed as had one of his waldoes slap Anthony away, seding him flying into a table that broke under his landing as he quickly leaped at the man with the knife and tackled him into a chair. The man let out a pained yell before he was cut off by a punch from Peter. The wall crawler than turned his attention to White Rabbit and her captor just in time to see the infamous woman slam the back of her head into the man's nose, breaking it with a sickening 'crack', causing him to loosen his hold enough for her to slip out of. Peter watched as white Rabbit turned and sent her fist into the man's bloodied face, right into his broken nose, and sent the man stumbling to the floor.

Peter was about to say something before his spider-sense went off and he turned to see several men aiming their pistols at him and White Rabbit. Without a sound, Peter shot a web line at White Rabbit's back and pulled her towards him before he leaped to the ceiling as several bullets flew by. The various thugs' eyes widened in surprise and were just turing their weapons upwards to shoot at Peter and White Rabbit's upside down forms when the wall crawler threw the woman in his arms at their would be attackers.

"Hey!" she shouted as she collided with several men, knocking them to the ground.

"Sorry, had to improvise" Peter said as he landed next to White Rabbit just as suddenly the doors that led to the VIP section of the bar sprung open and almost a dozen men ran out, all armed with automatic rifles and shotguns. Peter blinked at them before he turned to White Rabbit "I thought this place had a strict no weapons policy?!"

"You really expect Maggia to follow that rule?" White Rabbit countered before Peter scooped her up again and dived for a lowered section of the bar that provided some cover for the duo.

The Maggia gun men aimed their various weapons at where they saw Spider-man and White Rabbit dived for cover and began to pepper the area with lead, sending bits of wood and stone into the air. Peter let out a sigh as he laid on the ground, staring up at the ceiling as bullets raced by and took bits and pieces out of his and Rabbit's cover. The crazed criminal made a face as she brushed bits of wood out of her hair before she looked down at Peter with a glare of annoyance.

"You know, Felicia said you had a knack for showing a girl a good time. So far, I'm not very impressed" she said, hunching her back so as to keep her bead behind her and Peter's cover.

Peter scowled at her before he realized just how she was lying on top of him, her hands on his chest and her hips resting over his own. Peter was thankful for his mask as it allowed him to better hide the blush he was slowly growing on his face. He made to gently move White Rabbit off him when she suddenly ducked as several bullets raced past her head, causing her to press her chest into his own and for her hips to slide against his in a manner that caused a slight stirring within him.

_'Well this is awkward_' Peter thought with a sigh _'Thank god MJ isn't here to see this, I'll never hear the end of it' _

He could practically hear the dry sarcastic comments over the gun fire and White Rabbit's very un-lady like curses.

_"Oh, is that what your into now Tiger, some slutty roger rabbit looking gal that looks like she could be the mascot for Playboy Bunnies?" _Mary Jane's voice rang through Peter's mind before he shook his head and gently reached up and moved White Rabbit off his waist before-

"Please tell me that's your belt I felt pressed up against my pussy" Lorina asked with a faint blush under her slightly marred makeup.

"Uhhh" Peter sounded before he nodded "Y-Yeah, it uh, it was, hehehe, sorry..."

The red head frowned at the very poor lie the arachnid themed hero told her before she adverted her gaze from the man "Now what?"

"Well, I was hoping to stay here until they ran out of ammo" Peter said with a small shrug.

"And if they don't?" White Rabbit asked.

"Hey, there's only so many bullets those guns of their can shoot and only so many magazines they can carry-"

"Hey guys, I found more ammo to shoot with!" a man said as he pushed a large crate of ammo out for the rest of the Maggia to use to continue shooting at Peter and Lorina's very depleted cover.

White Rabbit gave Peter a blank look at this "Runs out of ammo hmm?"

Peter's brow twitched at this "Oh how the fuck was I supposed to know they had a fucking armory back there?!"

White Rabbit grumbled as she reached into her jacket's inner pocket and pulled out what looked to be some sort of grenade. Peter's eyes bulged as she suddenly pulled the pin and threw it over their cover before she covered her head with her hands.

"Holy fuck, the bitch threw a grenade!" one of the Maggia thugs yelled as he and the rest scrambled for cover.

Peter closed his eyes and waited for the thundering explosion that would accompany the grenade, mentally hoping that Anthony wasn't killed in the explosion before he could tell Peter where Hammerhead was. After that, the man could fall down a flight of stairs and die for all he cared.

_'Better than what a man who works for Hammerhead deserves'_ Peter thought darkly before he noticed the grenade hadn't gone off yet.

And the Maggia were quick to notice this too and began to emerge from their cover and quickly advance towards Peter and White Rabbit's location. Peter was about to move before he noticed Lorina was still covering her head in protection and his spider-sense began to tingle.

_'Uh-oh'_ Peter thought as he covered his head just as a loud thundering 'boom' went off and the entire room shook.

It wasn't a standard fragmented explosion like most grenades, but rather the release of highly pressurized air that caused Peer's teeth to rattle and his ears to start ringing.

_'Acoustic grenade with a longer than average delay before the explosion... smart'_ Peter thought with a wince as he peeked out from his cover to see most of the Maggia were on the ground or their knees with their hands to their now bleeding ears '_Also ouch' _

Talk about a ringer.

Seeing the gun men were distracted, Peter turned towards Lorina "Much as I appreciate the help, you need to get out of here"

"And what about you?" she asked with a frown.

"I'll get in contact with you later once I'm done here" Peter said before he nodded towards the door "Now get going before that sonic blast wears off"

Peter didn't wait to see if she'd do what he asked before he turned and leaped back into the fray without a second thought, firing off multiple web bullets at the closest gun men, either pinning them to the wall or ceiling, or clogging their weapons and render them useless. Through the chaos, Peter noted Anthony's position, the man was slowly making his way towards the door to follow after White Rabbit and escape.

Peter aimed his next several web bullets at Anthony's legs, pinning the man to the ground and prevent him from escaping before he heard the distinct click of someone pumping a shotgun behind him.

Peter turned to see a man, far closer than he realized, aiming at him with a dark grin on his face as blood dripped down his eras "Eat this web head"

Peter tried to move but the various turned over tables and destroyed chairs around him impeded his attempts to dodge the shot and was thus forced to take the hit in the chest. The force of the blast knocked the wind out of Peter and caused him to stumble back before he tripped over a stool and fell on a few glass bottles. Peter hissed out in pain as the glass shards dug into a few parts of his back that weren't as armored as the rest of his torso were. His spider-sense was still tingling as he felt a shoe on his chest and looked up to see the man who shot him aiming his shotgun right at Peter's face with a grin.

"Nighty ni-" the man began before Peter shot a glob of web in his face with one hand while the other quickly reached up and pushed the barrel aside just as the man pulled the trigger.

Fortunately the pellets fired from the gun went into the floor beside Peter's head, missing him completely, unfortunately the close proximity of the gun going off caused Peter to let out a pained yelp as everything suddenly went to a sort of muffled ringing sound.

_'Damn enhanced hearing'_ Peter thought angrily as shoved the man off his chest and quickly climbed back to his feet, shaking his head to try and stop the ringing in his ears before he felt his spider-sense go off again and he ducked under several more gun shots.

Peter turned to see two men still standing, well one was standing while the other was still kneeling, a hand to his bleeding ear as he aimed at Peter with a sneer. With a quick flick of the wrist, Peter shot a web line towards a still intact table and used it to swing into the last two gun men before he turned his attention to Anthony as they man was cutting away at the webs around his legs with a knife.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on, come-" he began before he cut through the last of the webbing and grinned before a shadow fell over him and he looked up to the red narrowed lenses of Spider-man.

"Going somewhere?" Peter asked with a grin under his mask at the pale look the man adopted.

Anthony gulped before he made to stab Peter in the thigh before being grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air and thrown clear across the room. The man let out a pained yelp as he slammed into a table that collapsed under his weight while Peter slowly approached him, his hands tightening into fists. He waited until the Maggia shakily climbed back to his feet before he sent a painful kick into his abdomen, sending him tumbling back to the floor before Peter was on top of him, his feet resting on his chest while he had two spider limbs emerge from his back to help steady him even though it was unnecessary.

But it did help in further intimidating the man.

"OKAY! Okay man..." Anthony pleaded as he stared up at Peter's red lenses, his own terrified expression visible in the red reflective surface.

"Where. Is. Hammerhead" Peter asked as he leaned down with a snarl.

"H-He left the city man" Anthony revealed, staring up at Peter with wide fearful eyes "A-A-After he blew up that damn b-bitch-"

Peter cut the Maggia member off with a solid punch to the face that snapped his head to the side. Before he could recover, Peter grabbed him by the neck with one hand and pulled his fist back with the other and prepared to hit him again before his hearing picked up someone approaching him from behind. Peter quickly stood up and turned, his suit's waldoes at the ready to lash out whoever it was-

"Jesus..." the person breathed out as they took in Peter's appearance and the state of the bar itself.

Peter's eyes however widened as he took in the appearance of the man that stood before him. He was old, in his sixties at the very least with silver white hair on his head and a mustache of equal color on his lip. His attire consisted of a dark jacket, dark pants and equally dark boots.

It was Walter Hardy... Felicia's thought to be, until recently that is, dead father.

"Walter...?" Peter whispered in shock at the man's appearance.

Walter stared at Peter with wide uncertain eyes before they drifted to the still whimpering man beneath the wall crawler. After a few seconds, his gaze flickered back up to Peter's "I suppose your here for the same reason I am?"

Peter was confused for a brief moment before it clicked and he slowly nodded "Yeah... I am"

Walter nodded as he looked around "This is... this is a helluva lot more violent than I expected"

All around him Walter saw men lying beaten and broken around the bar. Broken bottles, spent casings and blood was splattered all over the floor and the wall was dotted with bullet holes.

"They started it" Peter snapped, causing Walter to back up with his hands in the air.

"I'm sure they did, believe me kid I know how these kinds of places usually operate" Walter said in a way that Peter supposed was his way to try and calm Peter down.

Before Peter could say anything else, his suit picked up an incoming call... from Yuri.

_'Great...'_ Peter thought with a sigh as he answered the call "Captain, what can I do you for?"

_"Where are you?_" she asked in a impatient tone.

Peter glanced around the destroyed bar before his fell back on Walter "Oh you know... around"

_"Would this 'around' happen to be the Bar With No Name?_" she asked in a clipped tone.

Peter frowned at the tone she spoke to him in "Why's it matter if it is or not?"

_"Because I'm getting reports of shots fired because a guy and I quote 'dressed like a evil looking Spider-man went in and started kicked the shit out of people' end quote"_ Yuri said in a accusatory tone.

"Hard as this is to believe, there are other people out there with a spider theme going for them" Peter said with a small shrug as he stepped over Anthony's beaten, bloodied but still breathing body "Maybe it's that Tarantula guy again. Or Bingham. You remember Bingham right? Could be another one of him running around, or even the guy himself."

Michael Bingham was one of the few inmates that Peter had yet to track down after Otto had attacked the Raft and Strykers Island. He'd been meaning to track down the unstable man the other night but then Mary Jane called him about the 'Maria' at the art museum and then...

_"So your saying it was him?_" Yuri asked in a unbelieving tone.

"Maybe" Peter said with a small shrug.

Walter quietly went over and hauled Anthony to his feet before they both turned towards the door and nodded to it "I'll... I'll be outside when your done. I'm sure this man has plenty to tell the both of us"

"Don't get too far" Peter said, just barely managing to mute his call to Yuri beforehand.

"I won't" the older man said as he practically dragged Anthony back up the stairs leaving Peter alone amongst the beaten and bloodied bodies of various thugs and low life criminals. Once Peter was sure that Walter and Anthony were gone, he unmuted the call on his end.

_"Spider-man, look, I understand what your going through-" _ Yuri began before Peter cut her off.

"Oh you do huh?" Peter said with a scoff.

_"Yes, as a matter of fact I do"_ Yuri bit out in annoyance before she stopped herself and took a deep calming breath _"Look, just... just come by the Precinct in Chinatown so we can talk, okay?" _

Peter was silent for a few seconds as he stared off into space before his eye caught his reflection in the mirror wall behind the bar and he looked. He... he honestly couldn't recognize himself. His suit covered in a few tears and blood, not all his, and the way the lighting hit him gave him a very unsettling look. He looked less like the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man and more like some criminal he'd have locked up in the Raft alongside all his other Rogues.

After a few silent moments of looking at his reflection, Peter sighed "Fine, fine... I'll be over later tonight"

_"Thank you_" Yuri breathed out in relief.

And with that, Peter ended the call and proceeded to the exit just as the sounds of police sirens in the distance broke though the dark, tense atmosphere he found himself in.

...

Ten minutes later Peter, Walter and Anthony were on a rooftop that overlooked the Harlem river, just a few blocks from the Bar With No Name. The Maggia informer was covered from neck to feet in a thick cocoon of web fluid and stuck to the side on a water tower. Peter was silent as he stated at the man with narrowed lenses while Walter simply watched with an unreadable expression on his face. Anthony's eyes darted back and forth between the two with fear as he struggled to move his arms and legs which were webbed to the wall behind him at awkward angles that were starting to hurt.

"So this is how it's going to go" Peter said, stepping forward and crossing his arms across his chest "Your gonna tell me where I can find Hammerhead's safe house. The quicker you answer, the less times I have to beat it out of you"

Anthony gulped at the dark tone in Peter's voice while Walter stepped forward with a hard look on his face "And don't think spouting out some place will get him to stop. I have a knack for knowing when people are lying and will be able to tell pretty well if you are"

"You lie, I'll do worse than what I've already planned to do" Peter hissed out as he stepped right up to Anthony's face, causing him to flinch at the sudden movement. After a few seconds, Peter stepped back and let out a sigh as he spoke in a much lighter tone than before "So, where's Don oversized forehead hiding?"

Several seconds of silence passed before Anthony answered "H-He's... I can't just tell you man. The boss will kill me"

"What makes you think I won't" Peter countered with a growl.

"S-Spider-man doesn't kill" the man stammered out "I-If you did, there'd be a lot less of those other guys running around. And you'd still be left with no idea where the boss is at!"

Peter quirked his head to the side at this "What makes you think I can't have someone bring you back to life?"

Anthony's eyes widened at this "W-What?"

"Perks of being on a first name basis with a couple of Gods" Peter said with a small shrug.

Granted the only God that Peter was on any sort of friendly basis was Thor but he was incapable of pulling off such a feat... but Anthony didn't know that or need to know.

_'Though if he actually paid attention he might. Still, best not hint at which 'God' I'm close with, just to be safe' _Peter thought as he saw the look of terror in Anthony's eyes as Walter spoke up.

"So, tell us where your boss is, and we're done. We leave and you can crawl your worthless hide back to wherever your from" Walter said with a frown on his face "Or, you can be difficult which in turn will make this whole experience... unpleasant"

Anthony glared at the elder Hardy "You think I'm stupid enough to rat the boss out to some old fuck and his faggoty sidekick"

"Hey, why am I always the sidekick?" Peter asked with a scowl of annoyance.

Seriously, people always label him the sidekick!

Walter simply shook his head at Anthony "I don't think your stupid, not completely. But you will be stupid if you decide to be a problem for us-"

Anthony interrupted Walter by spitting at the former thief's face. Peter let out a growl of annoyance as he shot a glob of web at Anthony's mouth before he turned to see Walter calmly reach up and wipe the spit from his cheek.

"You okay?" Peter asked.

"Peachy" Walter said in a unreadable tone as he stared at Anthony with a dark look in his eye "Just peachy..."

Suddenly Walter stepped up towards the man and punched him several times in the gut before delivering a painful backhand that snapped Anthony's head to the side. Peter winced at the last hit as he saw a tooth go flying out of Anthony's mouth as Walter grabbed him by the hair and forced him to look up at the older man's face.

"You said that Hammerhead has left the city. Your gonna tell us where he's hiding you little disrespectful little shit stain or so help me I'm gonna be cutting your eye lids off with your fucking teeth, do you understand me?" Walter growled in anger.

Anthony swallowed nervously as he started into Walter's eyes with fear.

"Is Hammerhead at least in the state still?" Peter asked with a tired sigh.

Anthony was quiet for a moment before Walter slapped him across the face "He asked you a question kid, either tell him yes or no or I'll start with your molars and work my way forward"

"H-He's still in New York" Anthony stammered out.

"Where?" Peter asked with narrowed eyes "Is he here in the city still or somewhere else in the state?"

"S-Somewhere else" Anthony spitted out.

"And where, exactly, is that?" Walter asked.

His question was met with silence, causing Walter to sigh and shake his head.

"Fine, have it your way"

And with that, Walter drew his multi-tool from his front pocket and slammed it into the side of Anthony's mouth, hard. The man let out a pained yell as he felt a tooth knocked loose and blood full his mouth. Walter made to hit him again before he felt a powerful grip on his arm pull him back. Walter stumbled slightly before regaining his footing and turned to see Spider-man's masked cover face looking directly at his with narrowed lenses.

"That's quite enough of that Walter. Wont be able to tell us anything if you break his jaw" Peter said in a low quiet tone.

"He'll talk if it means keeping his teeth in his mouth" Walter snapped as he ripped his arm out of Peter's grip with a cold glare as he stabbed a finger into the wall crawler's chest with each word he spoke "Your being too soft on these animals!"

...

_"Your being too soft"_

_Peter blinked as he glanced at Felicia with a quirked brow under his mask "I'm sorry...?"_

_The trapped thug also turned towards the Black Cat who was watching the two of them with an unreadable expression on her face. For the past several minutes she'd been a silent observer to Peter's 'interrogation' of the part time weapons trafficker but it seemed after several poor jokes and quips from Peter and a few smart ass answers and comments from his unwitting detainee, she had finally had enough. _

_"Your being too nice" Felicia said as she gestured towards the man who looked at her with a scowl "Look at him, he's not even remotely concerned with withholding any sort of information we need" _

_"Hey, I have a system that's like ninety percent effective" Peter said with a slight scowl of annoyance "Patience is a virtue after all" _

_"Well your system is gonna waste our time while his friend's move his shit somewhere else" Felicia said with a glare "Need I remind you that those weapons of his are gonna be sold to the Jade Syndicate. Who will than in turn use them for one of their upcoming heists?" _

_Peter frowned at this "Fifty cal. machine guns and a few RPG's seems a bit of overkill to open a bank vault. Whatever happened to the old tried and true doctor scope thingies? Or using some giant power drill thing to drill a hole into it" _

_Felicia's look darkened slightly at this "Spider, we both know that those weapons aren't for the vault" _

_Which Peter knew, and Felicia knew he knew, they were for the police response once the alarm from the bank was triggered or a random bystander called the police and reported it. Now Peter and Felicia knew where the heist was gonna be and when, but their job, in Peter's opinion, would be much easier if they severely reduced the Jade Syndicate's firepower for the event. But that meant finding where the weapons were, which meant questioning the man that sold said weapons to the less than law abiding organization... which Peter, from Felicia's perspective, was failing. _

_Before Peter could say anything else, Felicia brushed past him and stepped right up towards the restrained arms dealer with a blank look on her face. she gave him a quick once over, taking note of the light bruising on his face before she placed a hand on her hip and began to speak. _

_"Look, the heist that the Jade Syndicate is planning is coming up soon, so we're short on time. My friend and I know that with what your planning to sell, you have your product stashed somewhere remote so as not to risk the police's attention but spacious enough to house everything your offering. Now we've narrowed it down to a few places that you might be storing the shit, but as I said, we're short on time" Felicia said as she brought a hand up and pretended to examine her nails "So, how about you save us, and yourself, the trouble and just tell me where your stash is at and the worse you'll have to experience tonight is what my partner has done to you..."  
_

_She than leaned forward and seized the man's chin with her hand, her claws extending slightly to dig into the man's skin and cause him to wince as her voice dropped into a cold whisper. _

_"But jerk us around, and believe me I'll know a lie if I hear it, and I'll do much, much worse. Understood?" she asked as she released the man's chin and narrowed her eyes "Now... where are the weapons?" _

_Peter watched as the man stated at Felicia for a second before he snorted and turned towards Peter with a bemused grin "Really, she's the bad cop between the two of you? Little miss black latex and boots here?" _

_The man shook his head at this, chuckling "Jesus, wait till the others hear about this, the bug having to rely on his cock sucker to question people-" _

_Felicia cut the man off by suddenly placing her hand on the side of his face and extended her claws out fully, causing the man to wince at the sound so close to his ear before his eyes widened and his body tensed as she curled her fingers slightly and have the claws rest on his skin. _

_"You know what that is there honey?" Felicia asked in a quiet voice, one of her claws tapping on the side of the man's face, just above the eye "It's called the trigeminal nerve. It's what allows for chewing and biting and is responsible for sensation in the face" _

_"How do you know that?" Peter asked in a low voice, a sense of dread filling him as he stood rooted to the spot. _

_Felicia ignored him as she stared into the man's eyes as fear began to fill them as her eyes darkened and her voice grew colder as her claw began to dig into the man's skin, causing him to wince in pain "If you do not answer my question, I'm going to take my claw and stab it right through your supraorbital foramen. Trust me, it's going to hurt... unless you answer my question. Where. Are. The. Weapons?" _

_"Fuck you-" the man began before Felicia suddenly stabbed her claw into the man's trigeminal nerve, right under the supraorbital foramen like she promised. Peter flinched at the sudden action and took a step forward before a harsh glare thrown over Felicia's shoulder froze him to the spot._

_In the months he's known her, he's never, and he mean's never, has he ever saw such a dark look in her eye. He knew she could be dark if push came to shove, more than he could at any rate. But to see it, to see the usually smiling, flirty and bantering woman so cold and so violent... and the fact she seemed unbothered by the screams of the man before her, blood pouring down his face as his squirming caused the claw to dig deeper into the nerve-_

_"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Peter suddenly yelled, taking a step forward and grabbing Felicia's wrist, far harder than he's ever had before, and pulled the claw from the now sobbing man's face._

_"Let go of me!" Felicia snarled as Peter's other hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back and forced her to turn around so that she was facing Peter directly._

_"NO!" Peter snapped in a angry tone "This, this- what in the ever loving fuck are you doing?!"_

_"I'm getting results" Felicia hissed as she shoved Peter back a few steps with a glare and pointed towards the whimpering man "You think a few bad puns and a bit of light slapping are gonna make him talk? The sheer amount of money the Jade Syndicate is giving him is more than enough for him to suck up his pride and let you bitch slap him a few times. By the time he does get around to telling you, those guns will be gone Spider!"_

_"Oh, so because he's being difficult we should resort to carving him up like a fucking horror movie?" Peter asked with a hiss._

_"If it means keeping people safe, than yes" Felicia responded with a dark look on her face as she stepped forward and her voice dropped to a cold whisper "You want them to take a bunch of people's Uncle Ben's away Peter?" _

_He made no response as he stared at Felicia with wide eyes under his mask's lenses. The whited haired woman looked at Peter with a regretful expression, she knew it was a low blow, a very low blow, but he needed to understand that if he didn't push harder, a lot of good people were gonna die. Several months ago she wouldn't have cared much if at all, but in her time teaming up with Peter his almost nauseating sense of justice and responsibility had begun to rub off on her. _

_Some days she hated it, some days she loved it. _

_But tonight, she thought, it was time something of her's rubbed off on Peter... _

_"Now than..." Felicia whispered darkly as she stepped back towards the still whimpering man and ran her bloodied claw across this forehead "Let's try this again... where are the weapons?" _

_He told them not long after. They found them where he said they would be without trouble. They destroyed them with little effort on their part. _

_And Peter stopped talking to the former Jewel thief for over a week._

...

Peter stared at Walter for a moment before he brushed past the older man and proceeded to rip Anthony's cocooned body off the tower. Walter watched with puzzlement as the wall crawler leaned in close to the man's face and snarled.

"This is going to be your only warning from here on out. Lie to me or stall for time like you were with him, and I'll break the other one"

Anthony frowned at this, blood trickling down his chin "Other what-"

Peter cut the man off by slamming his palm in the man's left arm with enough force to shatter the bone underneath, causing Anthony to let out a pained scream that echoed through the night...

...

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, As Peter meets with Yuri, Mary Jane investigates a possible Maggia weapons cache...


End file.
